Qualification

Ph. D: Molecular biology and Biotechnology, 2015 - May, University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad, India
M.S: Animal Biotechnology, 2008 - July, University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad, India

Experience

2025-February - Current, Associate professor, Erba Global Institute of Medical Technology, AMTZ, Vizag, India
2023-November – 2025-January, Instructor (Faculty) Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA
2019-June - October-2023, Senior postdoctoral fellow, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA
2016 - November – 2019 - May, Postdoctoral fellow, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, USA
2015 - May – 2016 - October, Postdoctoral fellow, University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad, India.

Research Areas

Cancer
Disease metabolism & Metabolomics
OMICS technologies
Advanced genetic engineering
In vitro and in vivo model design & development for preclinical testing

Research IDs:
Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=EIk0viQAAAAJ&hl=en

Publications

Kotrys AV, Durham TJ, Guo XA, Vantaku VR, Parangi S, Mootha VK. Single-cell analysis reveals context-dependent, cell-level selection of mtDNA. Nature 629, 458–466 (2024). doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-07332-0. PMID: 38658765. (Impact factor: 64.8)

Gopal RK*, Vantaku VR*, Panda A, Reimer B, Rath S, To TL, Fisch AS, Cetinbas M, Livneh M, Calcaterra MJ, Gigliotti BJ, Pierce KA, Clish CB, Dias-Santagata D, Sadow PM, Wirth LJ, Daniels GH, Sadreyev RI, Calvo SE, Parangi S, Mootha VK. Effectors Enabling Adaptation to Mitochondrial Complex I Loss in Hürthle Cell Carcinoma. Cancer Discov. 2023 Aug 4;13(8):1904-1921. doi: 10.1158/2159-8290.CD-22-0976. PMID: 37262067; PMCID: PMC10401073. (*Equal contribution) (Impact factor: 39.2)

Hu H, Ng TSC, Kang M, Scott E, Li R, Quintana JM, Matvey D, Vantaku VR, Weissleder R, Parangi S, Miller MA. Thyroid cancers exhibit oncogene-enhanced macropinocytosis that is restrained by IGF1R and promotes albumin-drug-conjugate response. Clin Cancer Res. 2023 Jun 8: CCR-22-2976. doi: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-22-2976. PMID: 37289199. (Impact factor: 13.8)

Vantaku V, Putluri V, Bader DA, Maity S, Ma J, Arnold JM, Rajapakshe K, Donepudi SR, von Rundstedt FC, Devarakonda V, Dubrulle J, Karanam B, McGuire SE, Stossi F, Jain AK, Coarfa C, Cao Q, Sikora AG, Villanueva H, Kavuri SM, Lotan Y, Sreekumar A, Putluri N. Epigenetic loss of AOX1 expression via EZH2 leads to metabolic deregulations and promotes bladder cancer progression. Oncogene. 2020 Oct;39(40):6265-6285. doi: 10.1038/s41388-019-0902-7. Epub 2019 Aug 5. PMID: 31383940; PMCID: PMC8058741. (Impact factor: 8.7)

Vantaku V, Dong J, Ambati CR, Perera D, Donepudi SR, Amara CS, Putluri V, Ravi SS, Robertson MJ, Piyarathna DWB, Villanueva M, von Rundstedt FC, Karanam B, Ballester LY, Terris MK, Bollag RJ, Lerner SP, Apolo AB, Villanueva H, Lee M, Sikora AG, Lotan Y, Sreekumar A, Coarfa C, Putluri N. Multi-omics Integration Analysis Robustly Predicts High-Grade Patient Survival and Identifies CPT1B Effect on Fatty Acid Metabolism in Bladder Cancer. Clin Cancer Res. 2019 Jun 15;25(12):3689-3701. doi: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-18-1515. Epub 2019 Mar 7. PMID: 30846479; PMCID: PMC6571061. (Impact factor: 13.8)

Vantaku V, Donepudi SR, Piyarathna DWB, Amara CS, Ambati CR, Tang W, Putluri V, Chandrashekar DS, Varambally S, Terris MK, Davies K, Ambs S, Bollag R, Apolo AB, Sreekumar A, Putluri N. Large-scale profiling of serum metabolites in African American and European American patients with bladder cancer reveals metabolic pathways associated with patient survival. Cancer. 2019 Mar 15;125(6):921-932. doi: 10.1002/cncr.31890. Epub 2019 Jan 2. PMID: 30602056; PMCID: PMC6402983. (Impact factor: 6.9)

Vantaku V, Amara CS, Piyarathna DWB, Donepudi SR, Ambati CR, Putluri V, Tang W, Rajapakshe K, Estecio MR, Terris MK, Castro PD, Ittmann MM, Williams SB, Lerner SP, Sreekumar A, Bollag R, Coarfa C, Kornberg MD, Lotan Y, Ambs S, Putluri N. DNA methylation patterns in bladder tumors of African American patients point to distinct alterations in xenobiotic metabolism. Carcinogenesis. 2019 Nov 25;40(11):1332-1340. doi: 10.1093/carcin/bgz128. PMID: 31284295; PMCID: PMC6875901. (Impact factor: 4.7)

Ambati CR*, Vantaku V*, Donepudi SR, Amara CS, Ravi SS, Mandalapu A, Perla M, Putluri V, Sreekumar A, Putluri N. Measurement of methylated metabolites using Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry and its biological application. Anal Methods. 2019 Jan 7;11(1):49-57. doi: 10.1039/C8AY02168F. Epub 2018 Nov 15. PMID: 31762797; PMCID: PMC6874373. (*Equal contribution) (Impact factor: 3.5)

Amara CS*, Vantaku V*, Lotan Y, Putluri N. Recent advances in the metabolomic study of bladder cancer. Expert Rev Proteomics. 2019 Apr;16(4):315-324. doi: 10.1080/14789450.2019.1583105. Epub 2019 Feb 26. PMID: 30773067; PMCID: PMC6538267. (*Equal contribution) (Impact factor: 4.2)

Amara CS, Ambati CR, Vantaku V, Badrajee Piyarathna DW, Donepudi SR, Ravi SS, Arnold JM, Putluri V, Chatta G, Guru KA, Badr H, Terris MK, Bollag RJ, Sreekumar A, Apolo AB, Putluri N. Serum Metabolic Profiling Identified a Distinct Metabolic Signature in Bladder Cancer Smokers: A Key Metabolic Enzyme Associated with Patient Survival. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2019 Apr;28(4):770-781. doi: 10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-18-0936. Epub 2019 Jan 14. PMID: 30642841; PMCID: PMC6449217. (Impact factor: 4.3)

Vantaku V, Chauhan VK, Dhania NK, Senthilkumaran B, Dutta-Gupta A, Validation of reference gene(s) for quantitative gene expression profiling using rice moth, Corcyra cephalonia as a model. Gene Reports, 2019, 14, 25–29. DOI: 10.1016/j.genrep.2018.10.007 (Impact factor: 1.5)

Ballester LY, Lu G, Zorofchian S, Vantaku V, Putluri V, Yan Y, Arevalo O, Zhu P, Riascos RF, Sreekumar A, Esquenazi Y, Putluri N, Zhu JJ. Analysis of cerebrospinal fluid metabolites in patients with primary or metastatic central nervous system tumors. Acta Neuropathol Commun. 2018 Aug 31;6(1):85. doi: 10.1186/s40478-018-0588-z. PMID: 30170631; PMCID: PMC6117959. (Impact factor: 7.2)

Vantaku V, Donepudi SR, Ambati CR, Jin F, Putluri V, Nguyen K, Rajapakshe K, Coarfa C, Battula VL, Lotan Y, Putluri N. Expression of ganglioside GD2, reprogram the lipid metabolism and EMT phenotype in bladder cancer. Oncotarget. 2017 Sep 16;8(56):95620-95631. doi: 10.18632/oncotarget.21038. PMID: 29221154; PMCID: PMC5707048. (Impact factor: 2.5)

Piyarathna DWB, Rajendiran TM, Putluri V, Vantaku V, Soni T, von Rundstedt FC, Donepudi SR, Jin F, Maity S, Ambati CR, Dong J, Gödde D, Roth S, Störkel S, Degener S, Michailidis G, Lerner SP, Pennathur S, Lotan Y, Coarfa C, Sreekumar A, Putluri N. Distinct Lipidomic Landscapes Associated with Clinical Stages of Urothelial Cancer of the Bladder. Eur Urol Focus. 2018 Dec;4(6):907-915. doi: 10.1016/j.euf.2017.04.005. Epub 2017 Apr 20. PMID: 28753886; PMCID: PMC5650548. (Impact factor: 6.0)

Venkat Rao V, Kumar SK, Sridevi P, Muley VY, Chaitanya RK. Cloning, characterization and transmission blocking potential of midgut carboxypeptidase A in Anopheles stephensi. Acta Trop. 2017 Apr; 168:21-28. doi: 10.1016/j.actatropica.2016.12.035. Epub 2017 Jan 10. PMID: 28087198. (Impact factor: 3.2)

Venkat Rao V, Surendra Kumar Kolli, Shruti Bargava, R. K. Chaitanya. Modulation of midgut peritrophins’ expression during Plasmodium infection in Anopheles stephensi (Diptera: Culicidae) Current Science, 2017, vol. 113, No 1-10 (Impact factor: 1.2)

Venkat Rao V, Chaitanya RK, Dutta-Gupta A. 20-hydroxyecdysone mediates fat body arylphorin regulation during development of rice moth, Corcyra cephalonica. Gene. 2016 Jan 10;575(2 Pt 3):747-54. doi: 10.1016/j.gene.2015.09.074. Epub 2015 Oct 8. PMID: 26456107. (Impact factor: 3.9)

Venkat Rao V, Ningshen TJ, Chaitanya RK, Senthilkumaran B, Dutta-Gupta A. Cloning and characterization of a riboflavin-binding hexamerin from the larval fat body of a lepidopteran stored grain pest, Corcyra cephalonica. Comp Biochem Physiol B Biochem Mol Biol. 2016 Apr-May;194-195:58-64. doi: 10.1016/j.cbpb.2016.01.008. Epub 2016 Jan 27. PMID: 26826286. (Impact factor: 2.5)

VenkatRao V, Chaitanya RK, Naresh Kumar D, Bramhaiah M, Dutta-Gupta A. Developmental and hormone-induced changes of mitochondrial electron transport chain enzyme activities during the last instar larval development of maize stem borer, Chilo partellus (Lepidoptera: Crambidae). Gen Comp Endocrinol. 2016 Dec 1; 239:32-39. doi: 10.1016/j.ygcen.2015.12.015. Epub 2015 Dec 18. PMID: 26709029. (Impact factor: 3.2)

Vantaku VR, Gupta G, Rapalli KC, Karnati R. Lacritin Salvages Human Corneal Epithelial Cells from Lipopolysaccharide Induced Cell Death. Sci Rep. 2015 Dec 16;5: 18362. doi: 10.1038/srep18362. PMID: 26670139; PMCID: PMC4680935. (Impact factor: 4.6)

Ningshen TJ, Aparoy P, Vantaku VR, Dutta-Gupta A. Functional interpretation of a non-gut hemocoelic tissue aminopeptidase N (APN) in a lepidopteran insect pest Achaea janata. PLoS One. 2013 Nov 14;8(11): e79468. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0079468. PMID: 24244508; PMCID: PMC3828369. (Impact factor: 3.7)